Query

 

Been listening to Richard Strauss, reading about him, and he reminds me of Nabokov. Same sense of humor, interesting letters, full-term marriage, hair-unfriendly forehead  and an insistence on avoiding easy aesthetic categories. For example, this Q and A from a press conference with Strauss has a Nabakovian ring:

 

“What do you think of the American school of composers?”

“There aren’t any schools; there are only talents and geniuses.”

 

Strauss was a great musician who also loved writing. Nabokov was a great writer who it seems to me doesn’t display much interest in music, surprisingly for a father  whose son became an opera singer (maybe something Nabokov has in common with  Michael Corleone).

 

The only significant reference to music I can think of offhand is the aversion to jazz by his surrogate John Shade.  Anyway, my query: is music a major factor in Nabokov’s work?

 

All the best,

don   

 
 
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